Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend.

The perfect and precise cut. The utmost best color. A sight so beautiful, it can bring tears to your eyes. A diamond IS a girl's best friend!!!

Oh...I'm sorry, did you think I was talking about that kind of diamond???? No no no. I'm talking about the OTHER diamond in a girl's life.

The baseball diamond. A sight I wish to see hundreds of times in my lifetime. The sight of that just cut of green grass, the smell of hot dogs and peanuts in the distance, and the tune of "Take Me Out To the Ball Game" playing in the background. This is where I'm meant to be. 

In the first post, I spoke of how my favorite quote to live by is from Yogi Berra: one of the greatest baseball players to EVER live! This is where I am quite different than most girls my age. Boys...I probably know more about baseball than you EVER will. Sorry. Haha.

My love for baseball came from my dad, who got it from my grandpa. In fact, my dad told me once about how my grandpa played with a guy that got a call to come down to the St. Louis Cardinals. That's a pretty cool story to have. In 2006, my dad took my little brother and I on our first of many trips. I had been to baseball games before, watching my beloved Minnesota Twins, but this was my first time ever watching a game in-person outside of the Metrodome. He took us to a Twins game in Chicago to U.S. Cellular Field to watch the Twins take on the White Sox, who had just won the World Series the year before. It was only the beginning for my love of baseball.

Every year from then on, we travel to a new ballpark to the watch the Twins. I've seen the stadiums of the Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, and the Colorado Rockies. Each an experience I will never forget. My passion for the game grew more and more. I learned as much as I could. Not only about the ins and outs of the game itself, but its history. I thrive on learning of past great legends of the game. Babe Ruth, Tedd Williams, Joe Dimaggio, Harmon Killebrew, Stan "The Man" Musial, Yogi Berra, so many to name, it'd take me forever. I literally sat for days watching the Baseball documentary Ken Burns made years ago. It fascinated me!

To many of my friends growing up, they didn't understand my love for the game. To them, baseball was the most boring sport to watch because nothing happened too often. I see it differently. Something new is always happening every few seconds...that is, if you are watching carefully. 

I saw something today on the Twins' Facebook page that it's down to 25 days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training. Makes me happy because I'm ready for baseball again. It's something that my dad and I can connect on. I could probably sit for hours with him and chat about baseball. In fact, a couple days ago, we had about a 30 minute conversation simply on the topic of the new Commissioner considering banning the defensive shift (which don't get me started by the way on that). It's also something for my mom and I to watch together on TV. It gives me a unique connection to each of them, because no offense to my siblings, but baseball just isn't your thing. Haha. 

So that's why I look to Yogi Berra so much for inspiration. Baseball in general brings me inspiration. Baseball allows you to see that it's ok to fail sometimes. Think about it...Ted Williams posted a .405 average in 1941, the last major leaguer to post an above .400 average in a single season. To achieve this, it still meant that only 4 out of every 10 at bats, he hit the ball. The other 6 times, he failed. Yet, he is seen as a great. That's what makes baseball amazing. There's so much going on in such a simple game. It's America's past time. When I met my boyfriend, Nicholas, I remember his great-grandma telling me that he was hard to talk to because all he talked about was baseball. I looked at her and went, "So?" It was the connection of baseball that brought us together and keeps us close. It's something in common we can all do together. I wish I could go to more games, and hope I can when I'm older and can afford it. Haha. I'd love to attend an Opening Day game one day too. Just one of many things on my baseball bucket list.

So, see....diamonds are a girl's best friend. Maybe not the diamond all girls want, but for me, it's better than any diamond jewelry. Counting down to Spring Training and Opening Day!

Bullying Doesn't Define You

I'll admit, I'm one of those people that during the day when I don't have my computer in front of me to write is when I have all this inspiration but as soon as I get in front of my computer...nothing...earlier today I tried to sit down and write and just couldn't get my thoughts together. I finally just had to tell myself that I don't necessarily have to have something exact to write about. This blog is meant as a way to express myself, so that's what I'm going to do.

Today, on my way to work, I heard a commercial come on. Now, I work in a second grade classroom as a tutor for my work study job at school. I'm not majoring in education  but it's a good way for me to earn some money and get away from campus a bit. Anyways, I heard this commercial come on the radio. It was an anti-bullying advertisement. In it, there were a variety of kids stating phrases such as:

"Today at lunch, I learned that I am loser. Today at school, I learned everything except the subject I was in."

The commercial hit home for me. Just a few days ago in my classroom, we had some guest speakers come in and talk about bullying. They did a little play for the kids and all I could think to myself was how easy they were making the stopping of someone bullying you. Now, I've seen and heard bullying already in second grade, SECOND GRADE...it's sad. As adults in the school, you do everything you can to stop it, but it happens. It happened to me....

Growing up, I was different from a lot of kids, girls especially. I was a big tomboy from a young age. When I was really little, I used to wear dresses and all that, but I grew up in a neighborhood mostly of boys, so that quickly changed. I was super into sports and heck, even in elementary school wished I was a boy at times because it just would have made life easier. I was the one playing football with the boys and was the tough one. I didn't and still don't let people push me around and I wasn't afraid to stick up for myself. Of course, as you go through school, your labels stick with you. I never really outgrew the whole tomboy thing, so guys never really saw me as a girl they could like or date. Girls on the other hand either 1) were scared of me, 2) made fun of me because I didn't primp myself, or 3) Use me as their "bodyguard" type. I was made fun of all the time. I was the scapegoat and the easy target. I still remember the names I was called, by both guys and girls. Most of the time, I could roll it off my chest, but I mean, I'm still human right?

I didn't have a ton of friends in high school. And the ones I THOUGHT were my friends, were the worst ones at digging into me. Sometimes I just ignored them, other times I fought back, which only motivated them more because I reacted to them. It really made me miserable during high school. I couldn't really escape either because all my school activities had all those people ready and willing to go after me. Looking back, there could have been so many things I could have done to stop it all or deal with it better, but that's the point of the past...you learn.

So, as I listened to that commercial today, I couldn't help but think of how true it was. I was a good student and all and I learned a lot in school, but yeah...most days I went to school finding out some new name people made up or what new they wanted to pick at me on. Was I perfect? By no means, absolutely not. I'm sure there are people I went to school with that thought I was a total and complete bitch. I wish that wasn't true but I know it is. That's why that commercial really hit home with me...

I was that person...the child speaking in the commercial. There were days I just came home and lied about my day or went up to my room and cried myself to sleep sometimes. But the very next morning, I woke up and put on a smile and faced those people every day.

As much as bullying exists and continues to exist, I don't think people realize...it'll never end. No matter how much you try, it's the nature of kids to pick on the weak and easy targets. What I learned from being picked on as I've looked back on my past...I came to a fork in the road...and I took it. Those people who targeted me didn't win...I still continued on with my life and hell, if I saw those people today, I'd probably say hello to them, wondering how their life is going. I do use it though as motivation. Those boys who didn't take a second look at me in high school, well....I didn't need them...I found my Prince Charming, and he loves me for all my quirks (plus, he loves having someone who's into sports just as much as him! Haha). To the girls who thought I was weird because I was different...I'm still different, and I use all those mean comments as motivation to succeed to the best of my ability.

Hearing that commercial today brought back a lot of memories...but it also made me see how far I have come since then. I think I have grown so much as a person in my time in college, and that's where it really counts. You never really do forget the comments people make about you...they stick with you unfortunately...but you don't have to let it define you. It's a memory for me...a reminder...so I never allow anyone else to ever do that to me again. So to all those people who picked on me growing up, this is my "F-you" to you guys. I am for sure not the same person I was back then, and in all honesty, you missed out on getting to know a pretty great person I believe. Of course, I am a little biased. You guys led me straight to a fork in the road...and guess what?....I took it!

Fork in the road? Take it!

Fork in the road, take it? Sounds like a pretty strange saying, I know. I didn't quite understand it at first either when I first heard it. "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." A wise quote said by one of the most influential baseball players in history. Yogi Berra. Normally, I would never look up a Yankee (damn Yankees!) but Yogi I can't resist. Not only for what he did in baseball, but all the inspirational yogi-isms over the years. It inspired me. While most people don't understand it, it made complete sense to me and has been my quote as I've gone through life.

To me, there's always going to be forks in the road. Pick way A or B and a situation C or D will occur. I've been through plenty of those moments in my life. Starting when I was young, it was the choice to choose basketball or hockey (which to this day, I still regret my choice!). At the end of high school, it was which college to choose. Then which major, which career, everything. Life became one fork after another! Now in my senior year of college, that fork in the road is a choice that I feel I have a million influences on me...and I just wish I knew which way to go.

 It's the whole reason I've decided to start this blog. With all the stress and decisions in my life, writing is my escape. Most people don't know this about me, but I love to write. Writing lets me escape and unload things that have been bothering me. As I was setting up this blog, I was trying to think of a creative name that wasn't generic but spoke to who I was. I didn't know what to put....then it hit me. 

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it." 

That quote that has been such an inspiration to me for so many years. Life isn't always about taking path A or B, but just to keep going and seeing where it takes you. I don't know if that's what Yogi meant by it, but that's my interpretation. 

So, it became official. Within this blog, I hope to write about not only about the present, but also the future and the past. So many people say not to look at the past, but to me, it's everything that has made me who I am today. The future may seem unclear most of the time, but I never lose sight of it. Whether or not this blog is seen by a million people or just one, it's worth writing. This is the start of something good for me. I've come to my fork in the road....and I'm taking it! Thanks Yogi!

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